S60 Brakes: Rattling Handbrake Shoes / Handbrake Questions

[ilmiont]

Hmm forgot about this thread.

I was told to do 400m when the shoes were new to bed them in.

Now I just do a few metres gently each week. It works out well for me actually, basically I park facing uphill, at the bottom of a steep hill which is a dead end, so every time I go out, I move a couple of metres up, turn the car in the road, then I glide back down to the blind junction (only a few car lengths) at 5-10mph with the handbrake lightly on. As the car doesn't move Monday-Friday, I like this routine Saturday afternoon to keep everything in good order.

Almost a year on, my handbrake still feels like it did in post #6. I'd trust it anywhere now, it's really like a vice, still with characteristic rollback but I've learned to anticipate that. What a change from when I bought the car and the handbrake basically didn't work... parallel parking on a hill at home, pull the handbrake skyward and hope for the best, have to say I now fondly remember it though, and I can say I'll never take a working handbrake for granted.

Possibly my cable needs a little readjustment as the shoes still audibly tinkle/clatter at times, so there's some slack to address I think.